BENTON COUNTY -- Rural Benton County residents will be able to vote on an ambulance service fee in a Feb. 11 election.

County Judge Bob Clinard signed a county court order last month setting the election. His concern in calling for an early vote is the effect a rejection of the fee will have on the county's budget next year and going forward, Clinard said.

"Looking at all the circumstances, I thought it was better to have this issue resolved sooner rather than later," Clinard said.

The Quorum Court in September created an emergency medical services district and set an $85 annual fee to be levied on households outside incorporated cities and towns not in the Northeast Benton County Emergency Medical Service District. The fee would be included on property tax statements.

Theresa Pockrus, a Fayetteville attorney and former Benton County collector, helped organize a petition drive calling for a vote on the fee and district. The petition drive ended Dec. 2 and netted enough signatures to force a vote.

Pockrus said she wasn't surprised by the decision to hold the vote early, although she wished the county had respected the election date included on the petitions.

Susan Anglin, District 9 justice of the peace, said she would prefer a November election, both to respect the wishes of those who signed the petitions and to allow more time to inform voters about possible consequences of voting against the district and fee.

"I really was hoping for the general election," Anglin said. "I think we need the time to get information to the people this affects. I'm very concerned. If this doesn't pass, I don't know what our options are."

County officials have agreed to pay the seven municipal fire departments providing rural ambulance service about $942,000 for 2014. The money would ensure the service is available but not pay the cost of patient care. All of the cities -- Bella Vista, Bentonville, Gravette, Pea Ridge, Rogers, Springdale and Siloam Springs -- have said they will bill private insurance, Medicaid and Medicare and the patients involved for the cost of any calls for service where a patient is transported by ambulance.

George Spence, county attorney, told Clinard he believes the county can schedule an election early in 2014 and have the fee placed on the tax statements if the measure is approved. If the tax goes into effect after the deadline for placing the information on the statements as it would with a November vote, Spence said, the county won't collect the fee until 2015.

Kurt Moore, District 13 justice of the peace, said the size of voter turnout and the margin of the vote could influence his thinking on how the county proceeds if the vote overturns the fee. Moore said some people could be left without ambulance service if the cities decide to stop providing service outside their city without reimbursement from the county.

"We just need to do as much as we can to get the vote out," Moore said. "They need to be aware their vote really counts and will have real consequences. To me, a lot of it depends on the size of the vote and the margin of the vote. If there's a fairly large turnout and it's defeated, I'm going to take that as an indication that the majority of the people don't want to receive ambulance service, and therefore they will not receive the service."

Tom Allen, District 4 justice of the peace, said the county needs to make sure voters have all the information they need to make a decision.

"This has been discussed for four years," Allen said. "It's been widely reported in the newspaper and to some extent on television. But we've not had people come out to any of the public meetings or public hearings on the issue, so I don't know that they have all the facts and understand what this is all about."